Hello all! My name is Corrine Dates and I am a second year, Secondary Education major at the University of Cincinnati. My concentration is language arts. Although this is my second year of schooling, it is my first year at UC. I attended Northern Kentucky University for my first year. I am twenty-years-old and I was born in raised in the Clifton neighborhood. My entire educational career, up to college, consisted of Montessori education. As I look forward to becoming a teacher, I am always returning to the discipline of the Montessori method. Dr. Maria Montessori, the founder of the Montessori method, believed that children learn best by doing and participating in hands-on activities with other people. Rather than sitting at a desk alone, as most of my other friends did who attended other high schools, I was working in small groups, exploring my environment through the act of community service while gaining life skills that I still use today. Throughout my years at Clark Montessori, I was given many memorable opportunities that changed my life drastically. I participated in Habitat for Humanity, completed over 300 hours of community service, explored diversity in New York City, and I was exposed to the negative and positive environmental effects on a rain forest in Costa Rica. I am utmost grateful for the things that I have seen and the trips that I have taken. I truly believe that they have made me a better, accepting, well-rounded individual. As I go to school full time at the university, I work a part time job at the Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). I have worked at the animal shelter for almost five years now. Along with working, I also tutor second and third grade students at a local elementary school. The school is located in a very poor socioeconomic area in Cincinnati and many of the children that I work with from troubling, difficult backgrounds. My tutoring experience has done nothing but reassure my decision at pursuing the career of an educator.
I want to be an educator mainly because of the inspirations that my previous teachers have given me. Often throughout high school, my teachers stood as guiding lights when I was challenged by something at the time. They were never judgmental and they were always available when I needed them to be. This is what pushes me to be an educator. I am willing to become a support system for my students and to be there every time that they may need me. Along with wanting to be a support system to my students, I also want to share my love of language arts, especially my love of writing. I have always loved to read and write and I enjoy assisting people in making their writing better. Helping others is second nature to me. I help animals in need each and every day at my place of work and I look forward to helping my students when they are in need of learning a certain task, term, or idea. I truly love the act of teaching and I want to share that love with as many people as possible.
Issues in Ed. Tech: March 29
Engage
1. Does technology make a difference in the learning process or could you teach just as well without it?
Technology does make a difference in the learning process, but I believe that you can still teach well without it. Technology can allow easier access to assignments, information, data, and tools. However, technology is not something to depend on at all times. It can fail us and that should be thought of when planning a lesson around it.
2. Are students today fundamentally different than students in the past?
Students are different compared to students in the past due to many different things. One of these things is the advancement in technology that our society has recently seen. Things can get done quicker, and more information can be found easily online. This is both good and bad. For students, things can be done at a faster pace, but the work that they are putting in may lack. Meaning that technology does a lot of the work for the child. No longer do students have to sit at a library and read through numerous books for research; instead the information can easily be found on the internet within a few minutes.
Evaluate
After reading the Clark article and after reviewing the many posts that other students have posted about the other readings, I can say that I still do agree with the original points that I made. However, I can say that my eyes were opened to a lot of information that I did not take in to account when I first answered the questions. For example, I did not think to write about the importance of the various instructional methods that technology can be taught in. For some students, technology is the best way for them to learn a concept or term. When I first answered the question, I automatically saw technology from the teacher's perspective rather than from the students point of view. I did not focus on the importance that technology can have to an individual's unique style of learning. I also thought of technology as a negative thing that educators should not depend on. Although I slightly still agree with this statement, I can say that I have changed my opinion on it. I still believe that technology can be unreliable and that an educator should not focus their entire teaching method or strategy around it, but I do see the good in technology as well. In the Clark article, he stated that, "...learning is influenced more by the content and instructional strategy in a medium than by the type of medium." This simply means that it is not the medium or tool alone that influences the learning, but it is the way in which that tool is used or implemented towards the student's learning process.
Objectivist vs. Constructivist Theory: April 5
Objectivist Theory
- The content is presented, the child digests it, gives a right or wrong answer, student is reinforced for the right answer given and the cycle is repeat for wrong answers
- Learning comes from reinforcing the correct answer
- Utilizing the "Black Box" theory: what occurs within the learner's mind is unknown to everyone else
- Method utilizes consequences for bad behavior and reinforcements for good behavior
- Behavior is guided by a single purpose
- Can understand a learn by observing them for long periods of time
- The teacher has all control inside of the classroom
Constructivist Theory
- Based on observation and scientific study about the process of learning
- People construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world through experience
- Use of active techniques, experiments, real world problem-solving skills
- Often compared to the Montessori method of teaching
- Apply the content or lesson to bigger "real life" ideas
- The teacher stands as a guide to his or her students
- Students actively construct their knowledge instead of 'ingesting' and memorizing the knowledge from a textbook alone
- Learning process is different for each student
- Focuses on the individual's role in the world rather than existing in the world independently
Applying Mathematics to Real Life Skills: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxufdpcfpJY
This video exemplified the many aspects of a constructivist theory that are working in education. The students were using their learned geometry skills to solve an issue outside of the classroom by creating a new architectural layout for a high school that would be built years in the future. The constructivist theory focuses on the student's ability to apply the things that they have learned towards real life problems in their personal community, such as building a particular high school on a given cite. This application allows the student to demonstrate their learning outside of the classroom walls. In the video, the teacher, Mrs. Readers stated, "...talking to the kids did not cause them to really, deeply learn the concepts." This quote from Mrs. Readers shows that students cannot learn by lessons taught from the teacher alone. The students have to apply those same concepts to larger real world problems in order to gain a full understanding of them.
Traditional Teaching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-S54bbX6eA
This video clearly demonstrated an objectivist way of teaching. Although the video demonstrated a poor method of teaching, it demonstrated it very well. The video was from a famous movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." In that movie, the teacher is shown implementing a very ineffective method of teaching, lecturing. Rather than interacting with the students in the classroom and engaging them in conversation about the content, the teacher instead lectures the students, does not encourage them to participate in classroom discussion, and does not implement any form of consequences for visible bad behavior. Some of the high school students are found sleeping, eating, and staring with dumbfounded looks rather than attempting to learn the material that is being presented. This video portrays the objectivist theory because it does not show the students engaging in conversation, asking stimulating questions, or applying the concepts to issues outside of the classroom. Instead, the teacher has total control of the classroom in the video, directing his lesson in the way that he understands as most effective.
Inquiry Based Learning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8Lh5MfyE-E&feature=youtu.be
In this particular video, the narrator explained inquiry based learning as a type of learning that is driven by questions that are asked by both the teacher and the students to stimulate the discussion. Throughout the video, a middle school science classroom is implementing the importance of asking questions about the subject that they are working on. Working in groups, rather than as individuals, the students completed various experiments all of which were working towards a specific goal of trying to eliminate toxic waste disposal in their community. This group project allowed the students to apply their knowledge to a real world issue outside of the classroom. The 8th grade teacher, Mrs. Asbury, stated "...It's not just what the students learn but how they learn." Students can only learn so much by listening to what is being taught to them. They need to experience their learning through activities in order to fully understand it. By encouraging the students to work in groups and allowing them to choose the experiments of their choice, enables the students to learn to their best ability. Being able to ask questions and actively engaged with other students and the teacher, the individual student can then open their eyes to ideas that they may never have thought of by themselves. The constructivist theory broadens the student's learning and understanding of all topics and their relation to the bigger, real world that exists outside of the classroom.
As I look forward to my future career as an educator, I agree most with the constructivist theory of education. As I stated in my introduction, I love the foundations that lie behind the Montessori method of teaching. The constructivist theory is often compared to the Montessori method. I believe that allowing students to experiment with several learning methods ensures that each student will understand the way in which he or she learns best. Not all students learn or comprehend material in the same way or at the same pace, which is why a curriculum should be as diverse as the students that make up the classroom. I grew up inside of the Montessori curriculum and I greatly appreciated every aspect of it. I was able to gain life skills that will stick with me for years to come. I learned the importance of real world problem-solving, group interaction, self-reflection, and individual worth to my personal community. These are the types of skills that I wish to implement to my students.
Faculty meetings devoted to the concept of technology usage
Rescheduling of the school day to allow teachers access to proper training
Allowing technology-using teachers to work as mentors for new teachers
Release time for teachers to attend technolgy conferences and seminars
Creating technology teams
Games Stations: April 26
Section 8: The Great Gatsby Game, http://greatgatsbygame.com/
The game is a combination of drill-type games and virtual environments.
Standards Covered:
Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment.
Phonemic awareness, word recognition and fluency standard.
This game was fairly easy to use. Although the game became quite repetitive after a few levels of playing, the characters within the game related back to the book, The Great Gatsby, which was a great reminder and guide for students to use. There were both scenes and characters from the novel that were represented in the game, such as the party with the many guests attending. The game surrounding the book The Great Gatsby would be very beneficial to a student’s understanding of the content and the meaning of the book. The game almost works as a test or a guide for students to demonstrate how well they read the book and how well they understood the material within the book. While playing the game, students can see if they recognize the quotations or characters that are taken from the book and placed inside of the game. Students can also use the game as a comparison to the book; identifying the similarities and differences that lie between the written novel and the virtual game.
Section 10: SMARTBoard Games on PBS, http://pbskids.org/whiteboard/
The games on the SMARTBoard are a combination of drill-type games and role playing games.
Standards Covered:
Describe the effects of environmental changes.
Living things impact and interact with their environment in a variety of ways.
The games that our group played on the SMARTBoard were geared towards a younger audience, surrounding the subject of science and environmental changes. The particular game that we played related to the children’s show, “Arthur.” The goal of the game was to catch and stop the many environmental factors that have the opportunity to enter our bodies and cause harm, such as smoke and pollen. The game resembled many arcade games, catching falling objects for point value. I thought that the game would work well for younger students trying to gain understanding of environmental factors and the effects that they have on the human body. This interactive game allows children to be a part of the lesson and concepts that they are learning, which allows them to understand the material even easier. By seeing the falling objects, students have the ability to showcase their learning, by identifying the environmental factors and the way in which they enter the human body.
Website Evaluation: May 10
Group E: Mankato, MN Home Page
After looking on this cite for several minutes, I can honestly say that I did not find it very reliable. My first bad impression came from the look and the flow of the website. The images, the rainbow colored clock and thermometer that read the time and temperature of Mankato, MN, the unorganized list of pages at the bottom of the home page, as well as the various grammatical errors made on the pages me believe that the website was not real. The theme of the website was very tropical, filled with images of beach island views, which seems out of place given the area of Minnesota. There are also random images of families and relaxing couples sitting on the beach, which looks like they may have been taken from another resort's website.
1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. Teachers: b. engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.
This course has forced me to think critically about my future career as a high school English teacher. I have been forced to think about solutions to real-life situations that I could possibly face inside of the classroom. Most education courses that I have taken in the past have taught me the guidelines and restrictions of being an educator, but this course has shown me what can actually occur when in the classroom, which I find very beneficial to my future. I went to a public Montessori high school that was fortunate to have laptops and desktop computers available to all students in many of the different classrooms throughout the school. In the past, I failed to realize the fact that not all schools may be as fortunate as mine was, which allowed me to think even deeper in realizing that the school that I will teach at in the future may not have advanced technological devices available to the students in my classroom. I wrongly thought that if a lesson plan was directed by technology, then it would not be taught without the technology present. It was not until our online homework assignment, Classroom Management, where I considered alternative tools to use in the classroom when technology is not an option to me.
In the Classroom Management assignment, we were split into separate groups or pairs, asked to find solutions to a real-life problem surrounding the lack of technology in the classroom. In order to complete the assignment, my virtual students needed access to the internet to research their topic, and a video camera to record their television broadcast on tornadoes. In my classroom, my students had five computers to work with, but they did not have access to a recording video camera. When I first began to brainstorm solutions to this issue, I found it hard to do so. As I thought hard about my specific situation, I found that even though we didn’t have a video camera, my classroom had a digital camera that was capable of taking still images. Rather than recording and presenting their video, my students could have created a “video” out of numerous still images compiled together, while using a familiar program called Movie Maker to add audio commentary to enhance the colleague of images.
As I think about my future as an educator, I keep this specific assignment close to my heart. Technology is an important tool to implement inside of the classroom, but I have to remember that it is not the only tool available to me. It is a possibility that the school I begin my teaching career at may not have access to numerous technological devices such as video cameras, computer labs, and projector screens. As I create new lesson plans and classroom activities, which incorporate technology or multimedia, I must remember to have a plan of action in place if the technology were to fail me or not be available to me. Being a teacher is difficult and new issues arise everyday, but through this course I am confident that I have been given many great tools and ideas from the various classroom assignments, such as the Classroom Management lesson.
2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS•S. Teachers: a. Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.
This entire course is based around a subject that I have never been familiar with: technology. I understand the basic concepts that surround a computer as well as other technological tools such as iPods and DVD players, but I never learned the specific details and abilities of any computer tool. As I work to become an educator, I am often reminded about how quickly technology is growing in importance and use inside of the classroom, which forces me to face my fear and ignorance of technology. I have enjoyed and valued this course so far because it has done nothing but teach me by implement the use technology in all of the classwork, class lessons, group work, and homework assignments that are expected to be completed. The various tasks that we as a class have been asked to complete thus far have forced us to think about, evaluate, and question our thoughts and beliefs of education as well as technology as a whole.
One assignment in particular that allowed me to express my creativity through technology was the rubric that I created using an online generator called Rubistar. In order to create the rubric, I first had to revisit the lesson plan that I used to generate an online quiz, which was another opportunity that I was given to express my creativity in this course. Being able to choose my own lesson plan was the first opportunity that I had in expressing myself. After revisiting the lesson plan that I had chosen, I had to then create a rubric that would be used to grade my students on their performance pertaining to that specific lesson. I was given the opportunity to create everything about the rubric: the point values ranging from 1 - 100, the concepts that my students would be graded on, as well as the descriptions that matched the possible point values. By starting with a blank canvas, I was able to create the rubric to my personal teaching and grading methods, which makes it much easier to use in within the classroom. If I were to use another teacher's rubric when grading an assignment or process, I would not be grading according to my standards, but to another teacher's. My students would not benefit from this process.
I love the idea of rubric grading. Some of the work that students create cannot be scaled on a letter grade basis. For example, the lesson plan that I created a rubric for surrounded a drama play performance that students created while using SAT vocabulary words. The grades clearly would not have been black and white. The rubric allows the teacher to see the students work from various aspects and views, which allows for a fairer grading process. With the rubric, students know exactly what is expected of them through the single assignment, eliminating the possibility of confusion or disagreement towards the teacher. The rubric is also beneficial to the students. Again, all students know what is expected of them, allowing them to easily earn the best possible grade, but students also know what to expect of the teacher. Rubrics eliminate biased, unfair grading. Rubrics supply a description of the point value that is assigned, which must match the quality of the work presented in order to be fair and acceptable. I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to create a rubric and to also be introduced to an online database that allows beginning educators, such as myself, to create a rubric in a timely manner.
3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society. Teachers: c. Communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital age media and formats.
Media can take many forms, all of which can be very valuable when used within the classroom. As a future teacher, I want to have the knowledge and the ability to know how to use and implement various forms of media in various situations with various people. Sending an email or a text message to a parent or co-worker is much easier and quicker than setting an appointment to meet face to face. At times, of course, a face to face meeting is relevant; however, personal meetings are not needed at all times and for all situations. The same idea applies to beginning teachers that are attempting to gain knowledge of the teaching profession. Personally, I am extremely nervous to begin teaching. The biggest portion of my nerves comes from my lack of knowledge and experience in creating powerful, challenging, lesson plans that will meet the many standards that I will be faced with as an educator. I do not know how I will create a year's worth of lesson plans, while keeping up with the many other demands that a teacher has to meet. This course has allowed me to overcome a portion of these fears through the creation and use of our class Digo website.
As the course proceeds, the Digo cite grows each week. Within the cite, me and my fellow classmates have found amazing lesson plans that I can see myself using in the near future, once I begin my career as a teacher. Every week, we are asked to find a lesson plan that pertains to a specific category such as the web, multimedia, games, etc. As the weeks of the course progress, the Digo cite grows and the possibles that the cite develops become infinite. I find amazing lesson plans and education ideas through our class Digo cite that I never would have found on my own time and search. I have found lesson plans taken from websites that are originally directed towards a younger student audience, but I have quickly learned that those same cites can be used in a high school classroom as well. At first, I thought that commenting on other student's posts would be pointless and time consuming, but if I had not gone through the process of examining and thoughtfully commenting on other classmate's findings, I would have never been exposed to the infinite possibilities that many other websites hold for me as a future English teacher.
As I think about my future, I get overwhelmed at how fast it is approaching me. In less than three years, I will have achieved a Secondary Education Language Arts bachelors degree and I will then be moving towards my permanent career as a teacher. At times, I believe that everything is approaching too fast for me and I get nervous about all of the responsibilities that I will have as an educator. The classroom Digo cite is one tool that calms me down. With the classroom Digo cite, I know that I have a growing abundance of lesson plan material that I could use in my classroom. Of course finding a lesson plan online does not eliminate my work as a teacher, but it lowers the stress that I put on myself in finding the appropriate plan or tool that I can implement in my specific classroom.
4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices. Teachers: a. Advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources.
It is an educator’s job to teach their students the proper ways of citing or using borrowed information. I always was aware of the responsibility, but I was never aware of how to actually go about teaching students the respect for copyrighting and the appropriate documentation of sources. It was not until our classroom lesson, The Ethical Uses of Technology when I realized just how much an educator has to do when using copyrighted information within the classroom. I was unaware of the process that teachers had to undergo when using another person's information, data, or images in a classroom setting. Before this lesson, I wrongly believed that if you were a teacher, using the borrowed material in an educational setting, then the material did not have to have permission to be borrowed and no sources needed to be cited in strong detail.
In the lesson, The Ethical Uses of Technology, we were to watch three educational videos that surrounded the idea of a classroom or another educational setting making use of copyrighted material. I chose to work with the video on the Upper Merion High School. In the video students used an image resource known as Flickr.com to borrow images to use in their personal creation of a virtual zoo. The teachers involved in the virtual school project received a lot of criticism and backlash from the photographers and original owners of the work that was borrowed by the students. In our lesson, we were to complete three steps of reasoning with the video: believing, doubting, and take away. Believing was to be our initial opinions in how the video upheld the fair use guidelines. Doubting was one way in which we believed the video fell short of the fair use guidelines. And lastly, take away which summarized what we learned as individuals and how we can incorporate those skills in our future classrooms. As I discussed on the discussion board, I was vastly unaware of the ramifications that could result in using undocumented, stolen, copyrighted material.
If not for this lesson, I would still be unaware as to what lesson plan material I could use in my future classroom. I no longer believe that as long as it is educational, there are no rules or fair use guidelines that have to be followed. Instead, an educator must always respect the fair use guidelines both inside and outside of the classroom. I am very glad to have taken this lesson away from this course. As I become an educator, I want to have the ability to set the best example that I can possibly set for my students. If I were to use stolen, improperly cited, copyrighted material in my lesson plans, I would practically be giving my students an invitation to do the same in their work. I cannot and should not accept plagiarized work and in order for my students not to do that, I must first show them how easily it can be prevented by assuring that all of my materials, lesson plans, and activities are properly following the fair use guidelines at all times.
5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources. Teachers: c. Evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning.
When I was in high school I believed that all websites that were found online were reliable and trustworthy. I figured that if it was presented on the internet then it was reliable to use as research or evidence in any type of educational situation. After many years, I have found that my safe assumptions about online resources were very wrong. As I become a future educator, planning to use technology in my classroom, I never once thought of the process of evaluating a particular website or an online source. I was unaware of the evaluating process and I did not know that many educators already participated in the process of evaluating an online resource. It was not until this course and the online assignment of website evaluation when I took evaluating an online source seriously.
In the online activity of evaluating a website, I took in a lot of new information. I evaluated the website that was based on information pertaining to the city of Mankato, MN. As soon as I entered the website, I did not find it to be a reliable source. I instantly based my opinion off of the aesthetic appeal of the web page before observing the content of the page. The web page was covered in floral images and there were many random, unnecessary details surrounding the page. Although the page looked to be unreal, the more that I examined the page while I completed my website evaluation, I found myself looking deeply into the content. If I had not gone through with completing the task of the website evaluation, I would not have examined the web page surrounding the city of Mankato, MN closely. While doing the website evaluation, I was forced to think critically about an online source and examine the information that was included within the website. If not for the website evaluation activity, I would not have been capable of examining the Mankato, MN website closely as well as any other website in particular. I did not know what to look for when evaluating a website, which meant that I did not previously know what truly made a website real or unreal even though that I decided that certain websites were unreliable in the past.
In the past, I have evaluated online sources based upon the look and flow of the particular web page rather than the content. After completing the website evaluation in this course, I have gained valuable knowledge pertaining to evaluating many online sources. As I become an educator, I have to truly consider the reliability that lies behind specific web resources. I have to learn that not all web pages are trustworthy and not all web pages can be of use in a classroom setting. I hope to incorporate technology in my future classroom, but I have to be confident that I am incorporating reliable sources that my students can benefit from. I value the knowledge that I have gained in this course, but I value the process of the website evaluation even more. Being able to evaluate a source and decide if it is a reliable or unreliable source to use is a valuable tool that is much needed when teaching in a technological classroom setting.
Throughout this course, I have been taught a lot about myself as a future teacher. Teaching has been a passion of mine since I was a junior in high school. It was in my senior year of high school, where I shadowed a high school teacher, when I knew that teaching was not only my passion, but my future. This course has taught me what it takes to succeed as a teacher. I have learned valuable lessons as well as critical thinking strategies that I plan to implement in my own classroom one day. In previous education courses that I have taken at the University of Cincinnati, I have been taught about the guidelines of being an educator and the degrees that are needed, but it was not until this course where I actually began learning and implementing teaching strategies. This course has opened my mind to the profession of teaching and has allowed me to practice teaching my own lesson plan. Before this class, I was honestly terrified to think about my future as a teacher, only because I did not know what I was doing, causing me to have a fear of failing myself as well as my students. As this class comes to a close, I have found a new sense of confidence in myself as a teacher. Being given the opportunity to create and teach my own lesson plan with my fellow group members was an experience that I will cherish many years from now. As I look forward to my first student practicum next semester, I feel more prepared than I ever have before. This course has taught me valuable skills ranging from copyrighting and fair use guidelines to evaluating and rating a specific website for proper credibility. We have covered a lot of different, diverse information throughout this course, all of which I have found helpful to my future career as an educator. Looking into the future is not as terrifying anymore. Of course I have much more to learn before I master being a high school English teacher, but I have gained irreplaceable information though this course that will guide me as I work towards my dream.
I want to be an educator mainly because of the inspirations that my previous teachers have given me. Often throughout high school, my teachers stood as guiding lights when I was challenged by something at the time. They were never judgmental and they were always available when I needed them to be. This is what pushes me to be an educator. I am willing to become a support system for my students and to be there every time that they may need me. Along with wanting to be a support system to my students, I also want to share my love of language arts, especially my love of writing. I have always loved to read and write and I enjoy assisting people in making their writing better. Helping others is second nature to me. I help animals in need each and every day at my place of work and I look forward to helping my students when they are in need of learning a certain task, term, or idea. I truly love the act of teaching and I want to share that love with as many people as possible.
Issues in Ed. Tech: March 29
Engage
1. Does technology make a difference in the learning process or could you teach just as well without it?
Technology does make a difference in the learning process, but I believe that you can still teach well without it. Technology can allow easier access to assignments, information, data, and tools. However, technology is not something to depend on at all times. It can fail us and that should be thought of when planning a lesson around it.
2. Are students today fundamentally different than students in the past?
Students are different compared to students in the past due to many different things. One of these things is the advancement in technology that our society has recently seen. Things can get done quicker, and more information can be found easily online. This is both good and bad. For students, things can be done at a faster pace, but the work that they are putting in may lack. Meaning that technology does a lot of the work for the child. No longer do students have to sit at a library and read through numerous books for research; instead the information can easily be found on the internet within a few minutes.
Helpful Classroom Technology:
http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/Pages/index.aspx
Failing Technology:
http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2010/04/28/11-Reasons-Advanced-Technology-Classrooms-Fail.aspx?Page=1
Technology: Hindering or Enhancing Learning:
http://www.sjsu.edu/people/waimei.fang/articles/hinder-enhance.pdf
Evaluate
After reading the Clark article and after reviewing the many posts that other students have posted about the other readings, I can say that I still do agree with the original points that I made. However, I can say that my eyes were opened to a lot of information that I did not take in to account when I first answered the questions. For example, I did not think to write about the importance of the various instructional methods that technology can be taught in. For some students, technology is the best way for them to learn a concept or term. When I first answered the question, I automatically saw technology from the teacher's perspective rather than from the students point of view. I did not focus on the importance that technology can have to an individual's unique style of learning. I also thought of technology as a negative thing that educators should not depend on. Although I slightly still agree with this statement, I can say that I have changed my opinion on it. I still believe that technology can be unreliable and that an educator should not focus their entire teaching method or strategy around it, but I do see the good in technology as well. In the Clark article, he stated that, "...learning is influenced more by the content and instructional strategy in a medium than by the type of medium." This simply means that it is not the medium or tool alone that influences the learning, but it is the way in which that tool is used or implemented towards the student's learning process.
Objectivist vs. Constructivist Theory: April 5
Objectivist Theory
- The content is presented, the child digests it, gives a right or wrong answer, student is reinforced for the right answer given and the cycle is repeat for wrong answers
- Learning comes from reinforcing the correct answer
- Utilizing the "Black Box" theory: what occurs within the learner's mind is unknown to everyone else
- Method utilizes consequences for bad behavior and reinforcements for good behavior
- Behavior is guided by a single purpose
- Can understand a learn by observing them for long periods of time
- The teacher has all control inside of the classroom
Constructivist Theory
- Based on observation and scientific study about the process of learning
- People construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world through experience
- Use of active techniques, experiments, real world problem-solving skills
- Often compared to the Montessori method of teaching
- Apply the content or lesson to bigger "real life" ideas
- The teacher stands as a guide to his or her students
- Students actively construct their knowledge instead of 'ingesting' and memorizing the knowledge from a textbook alone
- Learning process is different for each student
- Focuses on the individual's role in the world rather than existing in the world independently
Applying Mathematics to Real Life Skills: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxufdpcfpJY
This video exemplified the many aspects of a constructivist theory that are working in education. The students were using their learned geometry skills to solve an issue outside of the classroom by creating a new architectural layout for a high school that would be built years in the future. The constructivist theory focuses on the student's ability to apply the things that they have learned towards real life problems in their personal community, such as building a particular high school on a given cite. This application allows the student to demonstrate their learning outside of the classroom walls. In the video, the teacher, Mrs. Readers stated, "...talking to the kids did not cause them to really, deeply learn the concepts." This quote from Mrs. Readers shows that students cannot learn by lessons taught from the teacher alone. The students have to apply those same concepts to larger real world problems in order to gain a full understanding of them.
Traditional Teaching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-S54bbX6eA
This video clearly demonstrated an objectivist way of teaching. Although the video demonstrated a poor method of teaching, it demonstrated it very well. The video was from a famous movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." In that movie, the teacher is shown implementing a very ineffective method of teaching, lecturing. Rather than interacting with the students in the classroom and engaging them in conversation about the content, the teacher instead lectures the students, does not encourage them to participate in classroom discussion, and does not implement any form of consequences for visible bad behavior. Some of the high school students are found sleeping, eating, and staring with dumbfounded looks rather than attempting to learn the material that is being presented. This video portrays the objectivist theory because it does not show the students engaging in conversation, asking stimulating questions, or applying the concepts to issues outside of the classroom. Instead, the teacher has total control of the classroom in the video, directing his lesson in the way that he understands as most effective.
Inquiry Based Learning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8Lh5MfyE-E&feature=youtu.be
In this particular video, the narrator explained inquiry based learning as a type of learning that is driven by questions that are asked by both the teacher and the students to stimulate the discussion. Throughout the video, a middle school science classroom is implementing the importance of asking questions about the subject that they are working on. Working in groups, rather than as individuals, the students completed various experiments all of which were working towards a specific goal of trying to eliminate toxic waste disposal in their community. This group project allowed the students to apply their knowledge to a real world issue outside of the classroom. The 8th grade teacher, Mrs. Asbury, stated "...It's not just what the students learn but how they learn." Students can only learn so much by listening to what is being taught to them. They need to experience their learning through activities in order to fully understand it. By encouraging the students to work in groups and allowing them to choose the experiments of their choice, enables the students to learn to their best ability. Being able to ask questions and actively engaged with other students and the teacher, the individual student can then open their eyes to ideas that they may never have thought of by themselves. The constructivist theory broadens the student's learning and understanding of all topics and their relation to the bigger, real world that exists outside of the classroom.
As I look forward to my future career as an educator, I agree most with the constructivist theory of education. As I stated in my introduction, I love the foundations that lie behind the Montessori method of teaching. The constructivist theory is often compared to the Montessori method. I believe that allowing students to experiment with several learning methods ensures that each student will understand the way in which he or she learns best. Not all students learn or comprehend material in the same way or at the same pace, which is why a curriculum should be as diverse as the students that make up the classroom. I grew up inside of the Montessori curriculum and I greatly appreciated every aspect of it. I was able to gain life skills that will stick with me for years to come. I learned the importance of real world problem-solving, group interaction, self-reflection, and individual worth to my personal community. These are the types of skills that I wish to implement to my students.
TEARS: April 19
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Possible Solutions:
Games Stations: April 26
Section 8: The Great Gatsby Game, http://greatgatsbygame.com/
The game is a combination of drill-type games and virtual environments.
Standards Covered:
Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment.
Phonemic awareness, word recognition and fluency standard.
This game was fairly easy to use. Although the game became quite repetitive after a few levels of playing, the characters within the game related back to the book, The Great Gatsby, which was a great reminder and guide for students to use. There were both scenes and characters from the novel that were represented in the game, such as the party with the many guests attending. The game surrounding the book The Great Gatsby would be very beneficial to a student’s understanding of the content and the meaning of the book. The game almost works as a test or a guide for students to demonstrate how well they read the book and how well they understood the material within the book. While playing the game, students can see if they recognize the quotations or characters that are taken from the book and placed inside of the game. Students can also use the game as a comparison to the book; identifying the similarities and differences that lie between the written novel and the virtual game.
Section 10: SMARTBoard Games on PBS, http://pbskids.org/whiteboard/
The games on the SMARTBoard are a combination of drill-type games and role playing games.
Standards Covered:
Describe the effects of environmental changes.
Living things impact and interact with their environment in a variety of ways.
The games that our group played on the SMARTBoard were geared towards a younger audience, surrounding the subject of science and environmental changes. The particular game that we played related to the children’s show, “Arthur.” The goal of the game was to catch and stop the many environmental factors that have the opportunity to enter our bodies and cause harm, such as smoke and pollen. The game resembled many arcade games, catching falling objects for point value. I thought that the game would work well for younger students trying to gain understanding of environmental factors and the effects that they have on the human body. This interactive game allows children to be a part of the lesson and concepts that they are learning, which allows them to understand the material even easier. By seeing the falling objects, students have the ability to showcase their learning, by identifying the environmental factors and the way in which they enter the human body.
Website Evaluation: May 10
Group E: Mankato, MN Home Page
After looking on this cite for several minutes, I can honestly say that I did not find it very reliable. My first bad impression came from the look and the flow of the website. The images, the rainbow colored clock and thermometer that read the time and temperature of Mankato, MN, the unorganized list of pages at the bottom of the home page, as well as the various grammatical errors made on the pages me believe that the website was not real. The theme of the website was very tropical, filled with images of beach island views, which seems out of place given the area of Minnesota. There are also random images of families and relaxing couples sitting on the beach, which looks like they may have been taken from another resort's website.
Link to the Evaluated Website: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/discovering-passion-poetry-with-251.html
Link to the Evaluation:
E-Portfolio
1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. Teachers:
b. engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.
This course has forced me to think critically about my future career as a high school English teacher. I have been forced to think about solutions to real-life situations that I could possibly face inside of the classroom. Most education courses that I have taken in the past have taught me the guidelines and restrictions of being an educator, but this course has shown me what can actually occur when in the classroom, which I find very beneficial to my future. I went to a public Montessori high school that was fortunate to have laptops and desktop computers available to all students in many of the different classrooms throughout the school. In the past, I failed to realize the fact that not all schools may be as fortunate as mine was, which allowed me to think even deeper in realizing that the school that I will teach at in the future may not have advanced technological devices available to the students in my classroom. I wrongly thought that if a lesson plan was directed by technology, then it would not be taught without the technology present. It was not until our online homework assignment, Classroom Management, where I considered alternative tools to use in the classroom when technology is not an option to me.
In the Classroom Management assignment, we were split into separate groups or pairs, asked to find solutions to a real-life problem surrounding the lack of technology in the classroom. In order to complete the assignment, my virtual students needed access to the internet to research their topic, and a video camera to record their television broadcast on tornadoes. In my classroom, my students had five computers to work with, but they did not have access to a recording video camera. When I first began to brainstorm solutions to this issue, I found it hard to do so. As I thought hard about my specific situation, I found that even though we didn’t have a video camera, my classroom had a digital camera that was capable of taking still images. Rather than recording and presenting their video, my students could have created a “video” out of numerous still images compiled together, while using a familiar program called Movie Maker to add audio commentary to enhance the colleague of images.
As I think about my future as an educator, I keep this specific assignment close to my heart. Technology is an important tool to implement inside of the classroom, but I have to remember that it is not the only tool available to me. It is a possibility that the school I begin my teaching career at may not have access to numerous technological devices such as video cameras, computer labs, and projector screens. As I create new lesson plans and classroom activities, which incorporate technology or multimedia, I must remember to have a plan of action in place if the technology were to fail me or not be available to me. Being a teacher is difficult and new issues arise everyday, but through this course I am confident that I have been given many great tools and ideas from the various classroom assignments, such as the Classroom Management lesson.
Classroom Management: http://computertools12s.wikispaces.com/C
2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS•S. Teachers:
a. Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.
This entire course is based around a subject that I have never been familiar with: technology. I understand the basic concepts that surround a computer as well as other technological tools such as iPods and DVD players, but I never learned the specific details and abilities of any computer tool. As I work to become an educator, I am often reminded about how quickly technology is growing in importance and use inside of the classroom, which forces me to face my fear and ignorance of technology. I have enjoyed and valued this course so far because it has done nothing but teach me by implement the use technology in all of the classwork, class lessons, group work, and homework assignments that are expected to be completed. The various tasks that we as a class have been asked to complete thus far have forced us to think about, evaluate, and question our thoughts and beliefs of education as well as technology as a whole.
One assignment in particular that allowed me to express my creativity through technology was the rubric that I created using an online generator called Rubistar. In order to create the rubric, I first had to revisit the lesson plan that I used to generate an online quiz, which was another opportunity that I was given to express my creativity in this course. Being able to choose my own lesson plan was the first opportunity that I had in expressing myself. After revisiting the lesson plan that I had chosen, I had to then create a rubric that would be used to grade my students on their performance pertaining to that specific lesson. I was given the opportunity to create everything about the rubric: the point values ranging from 1 - 100, the concepts that my students would be graded on, as well as the descriptions that matched the possible point values. By starting with a blank canvas, I was able to create the rubric to my personal teaching and grading methods, which makes it much easier to use in within the classroom. If I were to use another teacher's rubric when grading an assignment or process, I would not be grading according to my standards, but to another teacher's. My students would not benefit from this process.
I love the idea of rubric grading. Some of the work that students create cannot be scaled on a letter grade basis. For example, the lesson plan that I created a rubric for surrounded a drama play performance that students created while using SAT vocabulary words. The grades clearly would not have been black and white. The rubric allows the teacher to see the students work from various aspects and views, which allows for a fairer grading process. With the rubric, students know exactly what is expected of them through the single assignment, eliminating the possibility of confusion or disagreement towards the teacher. The rubric is also beneficial to the students. Again, all students know what is expected of them, allowing them to easily earn the best possible grade, but students also know what to expect of the teacher. Rubrics eliminate biased, unfair grading. Rubrics supply a description of the point value that is assigned, which must match the quality of the work presented in order to be fair and acceptable. I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to create a rubric and to also be introduced to an online database that allows beginning educators, such as myself, to create a rubric in a timely manner.
Rubric: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=2189397&
3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society. Teachers:
c. Communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital age media and formats.
Media can take many forms, all of which can be very valuable when used within the classroom. As a future teacher, I want to have the knowledge and the ability to know how to use and implement various forms of media in various situations with various people. Sending an email or a text message to a parent or co-worker is much easier and quicker than setting an appointment to meet face to face. At times, of course, a face to face meeting is relevant; however, personal meetings are not needed at all times and for all situations. The same idea applies to beginning teachers that are attempting to gain knowledge of the teaching profession. Personally, I am extremely nervous to begin teaching. The biggest portion of my nerves comes from my lack of knowledge and experience in creating powerful, challenging, lesson plans that will meet the many standards that I will be faced with as an educator. I do not know how I will create a year's worth of lesson plans, while keeping up with the many other demands that a teacher has to meet. This course has allowed me to overcome a portion of these fears through the creation and use of our class Digo website.
As the course proceeds, the Digo cite grows each week. Within the cite, me and my fellow classmates have found amazing lesson plans that I can see myself using in the near future, once I begin my career as a teacher. Every week, we are asked to find a lesson plan that pertains to a specific category such as the web, multimedia, games, etc. As the weeks of the course progress, the Digo cite grows and the possibles that the cite develops become infinite. I find amazing lesson plans and education ideas through our class Digo cite that I never would have found on my own time and search. I have found lesson plans taken from websites that are originally directed towards a younger student audience, but I have quickly learned that those same cites can be used in a high school classroom as well. At first, I thought that commenting on other student's posts would be pointless and time consuming, but if I had not gone through the process of examining and thoughtfully commenting on other classmate's findings, I would have never been exposed to the infinite possibilities that many other websites hold for me as a future English teacher.
As I think about my future, I get overwhelmed at how fast it is approaching me. In less than three years, I will have achieved a Secondary Education Language Arts bachelors degree and I will then be moving towards my permanent career as a teacher. At times, I believe that everything is approaching too fast for me and I get nervous about all of the responsibilities that I will have as an educator. The classroom Digo cite is one tool that calms me down. With the classroom Digo cite, I know that I have a growing abundance of lesson plan material that I could use in my classroom. Of course finding a lesson plan online does not eliminate my work as a teacher, but it lowers the stress that I put on myself in finding the appropriate plan or tool that I can implement in my specific classroom.
Classroom Digo: http://groups.diigo.com/group/computertoolsforteachers
4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices. Teachers:
a. Advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources.
It is an educator’s job to teach their students the proper ways of citing or using borrowed information. I always was aware of the responsibility, but I was never aware of how to actually go about teaching students the respect for copyrighting and the appropriate documentation of sources. It was not until our classroom lesson, The Ethical Uses of Technology when I realized just how much an educator has to do when using copyrighted information within the classroom. I was unaware of the process that teachers had to undergo when using another person's information, data, or images in a classroom setting. Before this lesson, I wrongly believed that if you were a teacher, using the borrowed material in an educational setting, then the material did not have to have permission to be borrowed and no sources needed to be cited in strong detail.
In the lesson, The Ethical Uses of Technology, we were to watch three educational videos that surrounded the idea of a classroom or another educational setting making use of copyrighted material. I chose to work with the video on the Upper Merion High School. In the video students used an image resource known as Flickr.com to borrow images to use in their personal creation of a virtual zoo. The teachers involved in the virtual school project received a lot of criticism and backlash from the photographers and original owners of the work that was borrowed by the students. In our lesson, we were to complete three steps of reasoning with the video: believing, doubting, and take away. Believing was to be our initial opinions in how the video upheld the fair use guidelines. Doubting was one way in which we believed the video fell short of the fair use guidelines. And lastly, take away which summarized what we learned as individuals and how we can incorporate those skills in our future classrooms. As I discussed on the discussion board, I was vastly unaware of the ramifications that could result in using undocumented, stolen, copyrighted material.
If not for this lesson, I would still be unaware as to what lesson plan material I could use in my future classroom. I no longer believe that as long as it is educational, there are no rules or fair use guidelines that have to be followed. Instead, an educator must always respect the fair use guidelines both inside and outside of the classroom. I am very glad to have taken this lesson away from this course. As I become an educator, I want to have the ability to set the best example that I can possibly set for my students. If I were to use stolen, improperly cited, copyrighted material in my lesson plans, I would practically be giving my students an invitation to do the same in their work. I cannot and should not accept plagiarized work and in order for my students not to do that, I must first show them how easily it can be prevented by assuring that all of my materials, lesson plans, and activities are properly following the fair use guidelines at all times.
Ethical Uses of Technology Lesson: http://computertools12s.wikispaces.com/Ethical+Uses+of+Technology
5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources. Teachers:
c. Evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning.
When I was in high school I believed that all websites that were found online were reliable and trustworthy. I figured that if it was presented on the internet then it was reliable to use as research or evidence in any type of educational situation. After many years, I have found that my safe assumptions about online resources were very wrong. As I become a future educator, planning to use technology in my classroom, I never once thought of the process of evaluating a particular website or an online source. I was unaware of the evaluating process and I did not know that many educators already participated in the process of evaluating an online resource. It was not until this course and the online assignment of website evaluation when I took evaluating an online source seriously.
In the online activity of evaluating a website, I took in a lot of new information. I evaluated the website that was based on information pertaining to the city of Mankato, MN. As soon as I entered the website, I did not find it to be a reliable source. I instantly based my opinion off of the aesthetic appeal of the web page before observing the content of the page. The web page was covered in floral images and there were many random, unnecessary details surrounding the page. Although the page looked to be unreal, the more that I examined the page while I completed my website evaluation, I found myself looking deeply into the content. If I had not gone through with completing the task of the website evaluation, I would not have examined the web page surrounding the city of Mankato, MN closely. While doing the website evaluation, I was forced to think critically about an online source and examine the information that was included within the website. If not for the website evaluation activity, I would not have been capable of examining the Mankato, MN website closely as well as any other website in particular. I did not know what to look for when evaluating a website, which meant that I did not previously know what truly made a website real or unreal even though that I decided that certain websites were unreliable in the past.
In the past, I have evaluated online sources based upon the look and flow of the particular web page rather than the content. After completing the website evaluation in this course, I have gained valuable knowledge pertaining to evaluating many online sources. As I become an educator, I have to truly consider the reliability that lies behind specific web resources. I have to learn that not all web pages are trustworthy and not all web pages can be of use in a classroom setting. I hope to incorporate technology in my future classroom, but I have to be confident that I am incorporating reliable sources that my students can benefit from. I value the knowledge that I have gained in this course, but I value the process of the website evaluation even more. Being able to evaluate a source and decide if it is a reliable or unreliable source to use is a valuable tool that is much needed when teaching in a technological classroom setting.
Link to Website: http://descy.50megs.com/Emankato/mankato.html
Website Evaluation:
E-Portfolio Reflection
Throughout this course, I have been taught a lot about myself as a future teacher. Teaching has been a passion of mine since I was a junior in high school. It was in my senior year of high school, where I shadowed a high school teacher, when I knew that teaching was not only my passion, but my future. This course has taught me what it takes to succeed as a teacher. I have learned valuable lessons as well as critical thinking strategies that I plan to implement in my own classroom one day. In previous education courses that I have taken at the University of Cincinnati, I have been taught about the guidelines of being an educator and the degrees that are needed, but it was not until this course where I actually began learning and implementing teaching strategies. This course has opened my mind to the profession of teaching and has allowed me to practice teaching my own lesson plan. Before this class, I was honestly terrified to think about my future as a teacher, only because I did not know what I was doing, causing me to have a fear of failing myself as well as my students. As this class comes to a close, I have found a new sense of confidence in myself as a teacher. Being given the opportunity to create and teach my own lesson plan with my fellow group members was an experience that I will cherish many years from now. As I look forward to my first student practicum next semester, I feel more prepared than I ever have before. This course has taught me valuable skills ranging from copyrighting and fair use guidelines to evaluating and rating a specific website for proper credibility. We have covered a lot of different, diverse information throughout this course, all of which I have found helpful to my future career as an educator. Looking into the future is not as terrifying anymore. Of course I have much more to learn before I master being a high school English teacher, but I have gained irreplaceable information though this course that will guide me as I work towards my dream.